you found me
by BeyondMyReach
Summary: Ash is fifteen when he meets Shorter. He is thirteen when he first meets Eiji.


This is written for geckoholic aka lostemotion. Thank you so much for bidding on me for Fandom Trumps Hate and for beta-ing the story for me! I really enjoyed writing the fic and I hope you enjoy reading it as well!

Special thanks to Aori for looking over the fic!

**Warnings: **Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Nonconsensual Frottage, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Softness, Intimacy

* * *

Ash is thirteen when he first meets Eiji.

"We can use someone like you," Dino says when he comes across Ash, acting refined and almost fatherly as he smiles down at him. His hand is hooked onto Ash's chin from when he turns Ash's face to examine him, and when he thumbs his finger across Ash's lips, Ash looks Dino in the eyes and _knows. _

Dino has the same eyes as Ash's baseball coach.

Ash takes a step back and Dino's hand falls from his face, only for Ash's back to hit a deadend, and when Ash looks up, he sees the same look reflected in the eyes of the man standing behind him.

Blocking his path.

"Marvin," Dino says, straightening from where he is bent over Ash, "escort this young man to Club Cod, would you? I'll see to him after attending business."

"Gladly, Dino," Marvin says, leering at Ash.

"You'll be working here from now on," he says, an hour later as he leads Ash through Club Cod after a failed escape attempt. For a second, hope flares in Ash at the legitiment bustle of the restaurant and all its patrons eating there, but then Marvin brings him to the back, and Ash's heart sinks at the dimly lit hallway of doors and the scent of sex that immediately fills his nostrils.

A cry of pain to his left pierces Ash's eardrums and Ash jumps back, plastering himself to the opposite wall as though he can escape whoever it is behind that door. Marvin laughs as he approaches him, and Ash tenses at his breath against his ear.

"You want to see what you'd be doing here, slut?" Marvin whispers, and without waiting for Ash's response, he grabs Ash by the arm, twists it behind him, and slams Ash forward until his face is pressed against the foggy window of the door.

"Let go of me!" Ash shouts, fear finally cutting into his desperate attempt to hide his panic. He twists against Marvin's hold, fighting like an animal, but Marvin just laughs and forces Ash's chest against the door through the sheer force and weight of his body.

"Go on, fight, little kitty," Marvin says, emphasizing each word with the grind of his hip against Ash's back. Ash fights harder, wilder, when he feels Marvin grow hard against his back with every grind, but no matter what Ash does, he cannot fight free. Marvin's breath and sweat choke Ash in their close proximity. Ash is too small, too cornered, too weak.

Ash can feel Marvin smile against his cheek as Ash's fight gradually weakens. Marvin gestures to the window into the room. "Look at how pliant that boy is, how pretty he is all tied up. Can't wait til it's your turn, eh, kitty cat."

Unwittingly, unwillingly, Ash looks into the room through the door's window, and his gaze immediately meets another's.

It is the boy in the room. Asian descent, young, no more than fourteen by Ash's estimate. Ropes tie his wrists to the headboard above his head and his legs to the bedposts, spread-eagle. A man hovers above him, touching his naked body like it is his possession, but the boy acts like he doesn't notice with his head twisted to the side in Ash's direction, looking straight at him like Ash is the only thing he sees. Ash's face flushes when he realizes the boy most likely saw the entire encounter and his feeble struggles against Marvin through the window, but the boy's eyes hold such conviction and kindness that Ash's shame slowly slips away.

_It's okay, _those eyes seem to say, so warm and understanding it is like gentle reassurances against his ear and a protective hug wrapped around his body.

Marvin grunts behind him and shudders, and suddenly, Ash is brought back to himself. He becomes aware of everything: the sheen of sweat on his skin like a layer of grime, Marvin exhaling a sated breath against the back of his neck, the clammy hold he has around Ash's wrist; everything that is reminiscent of all that Ash tried to escape when he ran away from home. Ash feels used, dirty and disgusting, and his eyes burn with the threat of tears.

He glances back at the boy, and his clear eyes still looks his way, so deep and kind that Ash feels like a beached fish entering water for the first time. He takes a shuddering breath to swallow down his sob, and then another. Then, Ash summons all his strength and swings around against Marvin's weakening hold, slamming his elbow right into his face.

Marvin screams in pain, letting go in favor of clutching at his broken nose. Blood drips from between his fingers onto the polished floor, and when Marvin stalks forward and manhandles Ash into one of the VIP rooms with considerably more force than necessary, Ash doesn't cry.

Ash struggles to say the same when Dino rapes him later that night.

As it happens, Ash's mind conjures the image of the boy behind the door, his arms and legs bound, but his eyes still filled with conviction and kindness. It is only then that Ash notices something that he didn't that evening.

_His cheeks were glistening, _Ash realizes upon recollection _. _That evening when Ash saw him, the boy was crying as the other man raped him, only Ash didn't see at the time. 

As he realizes that, Ash finally closes his eyes and let his tears fall.

Come morning, as Ash looks into Dino's self-assured sleeping face against the pillow and his unattended briefcase on the table, Ash decides to escape from Dino's grasp and to take the boy with him, if he is willing.

Xxx

The boy's name is Eiji, Eiji Okumura. He is fifteen, older than Ash's initial estimation, and he's Japanese. He came to the States for a pole vaulting competition and got separated from his group while touring the area. Unable to speak English beyond the most basic greetings, Eiji resorted to stopping people on the street to show them the address of his hotel and when he finally found someone willing to show him the way, he was beyond relieved.

That was a year ago. He never made it back.

It takes Ash over two weeks to gather the story from Eiji, and each piece, Ash holds close to his heart, Eiji's willingness to trust him despite all that has happened to him warming his heart beyond belief.

It takes nearly a month for Eiji to fully understand Ash's story, both because of Ash's reluctance to share and because of Eiji's limited English. When Ash finally manages to convey his past to Eiji, he startles as tears spill down Eiji's face.

Eiji cried when he recounted his past to Ash, but now, he cries again as Ash recounts his past to him, as though Ash's past hurts him as it had hurt Ash even just by hearing it.

Ash has long since grown numb to his own past. His repeated rape at his baseball coach's hand, the unwillingness of the police to believe him when he reported it, his father's only attempt to help by means of telling him to charge his rapist money for each sexual assault, and finally, the coach's blood splattering Ash's hands after months of abuse. At this point, they are merely facts, things that have happened to him and nothing more.

When Dino raped him, Ash told himself the same thing. It is nothing. Ash has survived the baseball coach and he would survive Dino. Their rapes can't hurt him because he is used to it at this point.

But last week, they brought out cameras, films, and an audience, and today, Eiji is holding Ash in his arms, tears dripping from his chin down onto Ash's cheek, and Ash finds his face soaking wet.

"Ash," Eiji says, his Japanese lilt curling around his name, the first word he has learned from Ash and the word Eiji says the most following this discovery.

"Ash," Eiji says again, cradling his face in one hand as he wipes his cheek with the other, and Ash breaks, tackling Eiji down onto the bed with a soft thud.

Eiji's arms instinctively come up around him, as though to shield him from the world, even though Ash knows that he can't, not because Eiji isn't strong or brave enough, but because the world and its people are too cruel.

Still, in this moment, in a room too small and suffocating, segmented by screens too flimsy to offer even the false pretense of privacy, it is enough. Ash buries his face into Eiji's chest and sobs, his cries breaking as they come out like every single one is pulled from him by force.

Ash cries and Eiji cries with him, and between the both of them, for the first time in years, Ash feels safe enough to not be alright.

"I'll bring him down," Ash says later to Eiji, after they have both cried their hearts out and their voices are hoarse. "Come with me," he says, taking Eiji's hand into his own, and Ash doesn't know what he'd do if he says no, doesn't know what he'd do if Eiji brushes him off with a smile like he is a child who doesn't know any better.

Eiji doesn't do any of that, but merely nods.

"I'll help you," Eiji says, streaking tears across his forearm when he rubs it against his reddened eyes. "Then let's go to Japan, alright? We can go back to Japan."

Ash nods. "Anywhere," he promises. He looks at Eiji, hesitating for a second, before he leans forward halfway, eyes closed and lips trembling, waiting and hoping.

And when Eiji's lips gently meets his, soft and sweet, a dream-like flower unfurls within Ash's chest, so delicate and precious it seems too good to be true in the midst of the mire of the world.

Ash vows to protect it no matter what.

Xxx

Ash is fifteen when he meets Shorter.

It takes him two years to climb out of Club Cod, and then while he is working to establish himself in Manhattan, he is sent to juvenile detention. That is where he meets Shorter Wong.

"Do me a favor," Ash says on the evening Shorter is about to leave juvie, during their last outdoor activity time. He can feel Shorter startle beside him, against the tree trunk that they have taken to sit against; Ash hasn't let Shorter get close to him during the two months they have met, so Ash asking a favor of him must have come as a surprise to him. "You know Club Cod?"

Shorter looks at Ash, his eyes glimmering with if not understanding, then at least knowledge. "Dino's 'restaurant'," Shorter says, his easy atmosphere evaporating as a frown settles on his face. By now, Shorter knows of Ash's unwilling affiliation with Dino and what Ash has to do survive.

Shorter really does remind him of Eiji. Perhaps that is why Ash lets him get closer than most.

"Pass a message for me, would you?" Ash says, handing Shorter a letter he wrote the night before. It asks after Eiji's well-being and informs him that Ash is doing fine, that he'd be out soon and that Eiji shouldn't worry. It also contains, after some contemplation from Ash, a line about how Eiji can seek out Shorter Wong - the man who delivered the message - if anything goes wrong.

The message is folded in fourths and stapled, though that won't stop Shorter from opening and reading it if he wants to.

Ash doesn't think Shorter would. He wouldn't have entrusted him the letter in the first place if he thought otherwise.

Shorter takes the proffered letter, eyes scanning Ash's face as though looking for something, and he clenches the folded letter in his hand when he seems to have found it.

"I'll deliver it safely," Shorter says, _vows _, really. It makes Ash smile, just a little.

"His name is Eiji," Ash says. "Japanese, shoulder-length black hair, average height. Seventeen years old, though he looks a bit younger. There is a back entrance to Club Cod that you can use; Eiji checks it once in a while."

"Got it," Shorter says, with the intensity of someone about to embark on an important mission. Ash has no doubt Shorter memorized all the details he has given him. Shorter looks over at him and pauses. "You and Eiji... you guys sweethearts?" he asks.

Ash looks back at him steadily. "Why?"

His voice gives nothing away.

"Nothing, just…" Shorter gestures ineffectually, before finally giving up to rub the back of his head instead. "You look softer, somehow, when you talk about him. Your eyes go soft and remind me of my card with the angel."

"Right, the card you jerk off to," Ash says, laughing as Shorter flusteredly denies Ash's words. "Eiji's my everything," Ash answers when he stops laughing. That is the clearest way to describe it. "That's all there is to it."

"'That's all'..." Shorter shakes his head with a laugh. "That's one heck of a thing to say, you punk!" Shorter pulls Ash into a headlock, and Ash tenses for a second, before intentionally relaxing in his arms.

There is a thread of longing in Shorter's voice, not for Ash and Eiji, per se, but more for what they have between them. Ash can respect that. Besides, he hasn't had any human contact he enjoyed ever since he came here. It is nice, the warmth of Shorter's forearm swung around Ash's neck and the press of Shorter's chest against an angled part of Ash's back.

Ash wonders what Eiji will think of Shorter. Somehow, the thought makes him smile.

Xxx

When Ash finally leaves juvie a month later, he immediately sneaks into Club Cod, excited to see Eiji after so long, only for it to turn sour when he arrives in Eiji's small sectioned-off space and Eiji isn't there.

There is only one other place that he can be at this time of the day.

Ash sits down on Eiji's bed, subdued. After a moment, he finally takes off his shoes and pulls his legs to his chest, flopping down sideways and burying his face into Eiji's pillow.

It smells like him, a bit of the floral perfume that Eiji wears, a bit of the Japanese miso that Eiji can sometimes get if he is especially 'good'.

Ash clenches his fist at the last thought, hating that he has to leave Eiji in Club Cod, but then a familiar set of footsteps approach.

Ash sits up just as Eiji parts the wooden screen. Ash drinks in the sight of Eiji as a smile lifts his face at the sight of Ash.

"Ash!" Eiji cries in a whisper, throwing himself at him, and Ash's arms part, easily catching and holding Eiji's familiar weight.

Ash buries his face against Eiji's neck. "I missed you," he murmurs.

"I missed you too," Eiji says, pressing his face against Ash's. It is a little sticky, a little wet. "I'm glad you're back safely."

Eiji makes a questioning noise when Ash pulls them apart just a little. He thumbs at the drying tear tracks streamlined down Eiji's face.

"Oh," Eiji says, reaching to wipe them with his sleeve, but Ash shakes his head and does it himself, kissing each spot he wipes as though he can erase Eiji's suffering. Eiji sits there and lets him, comfortable in his arms, so it seems like his last customer doesn't get off on injuring him, at the very least.

Eiji has been in Club Cod a few years; most of his customers are regulars at this point, all drawn by Eiji's softness and kindness, though whether they want to bask in it or try to break it is always fifty-fifty.

"How have you been?" Ash asks softly, and Eiji laughs a little, rubbing at his eye.

"Not bad, the same, mostly," he says. He gestures at the remnant of tear tracks on his face. "This is nothing, I cry almost every time, you know that."

Ash hums under his breath and pulls Eiji closer until their chests are pressed flushed together, wishing he could do more than just wipe Eiji's tears. He doesn't want Eiji to cry anymore, but that is still out of Ash's reach, at least for now.

"Oh!" Eiji says, and Ash immediately weakens his hold, sure that he has somehow injured Eiji. Eiji shoves his face in front of Ash's, smile wide and brilliant, and Ash reflexively smiles back at the sight of it. "Shorter came to visit me a few times while you were gone! You should thank him later."

Ash's smile falls to a frown. "He did?" he asks, and Eiji nods.

"Yeah, he's really nice! He came by a few times after he delivered your letter to check on me and give me news on how you're doing," Eiji enthuses. "He told me you're coming back today, actually."

Ash blinks. "Is that so?" he asks, thoughtfully combing his hand through Eiji's hair. He raises an eyebrow when he registers the length of his hair. "Your hair got longer again," he comments. He gently deposits Eiji on the bed before standing, closing the wooden screen Eiji forgot about on his way in, and then reaches under the bed to fish out Eiji's small wooden box of possessions. Opening it, he pulls out a comb, and when he turns around, Eiji is already presenting to Ash his hair spilled haphazardly down his back.

Ash lets out an exasperated huff, taking a seat behind Eiji on the bed.

"You grew out your hair just to have me take care of it, didn't you?" Ash asks, sinking the comb into almost the tail end of Eji's hair and sliding down, untangling the knots as he goes. Once he reaches the end, he places the comb at a higher starting point than before and repeats the process.

Eiji makes an effort to stifle his giggles, but his shoulders still shake with the force of them. Ash laughs, soft and fond.

"What will I do with you?" he asks, planting a kiss on Eiji's shoulder.

"You like him, don't you?" Eiji asks, and Ash's hand falters. Eiji turns his head around to Ash, his eyes kind, soft, and knowing, like he can see into his very soul. Despite everything Eiji has been through, this has never changed about him, his ability to reach into people's very soul and soothe them, understand them in a way that even they themselves cannot comprehend or want to admit.

"Who?" Ash asks, resuming combing Eiji's hair, though Ash knows.

"Shorter!" Eiji says, obligingly taking Ash's cue to face forward again, though he doesn't drop the topic. "He's very nice."

"That's the second time you said that," Ash notes teasingly. "Are you sure you're not the one who likes him?"

It surprises Ash when the thought doesn't bring out any feeling of concern. Ash worries about Eiji befriending people since he is so unsuspecting and susceptible to getting tricked or hurt, not to mention his tendency to overinvest and care too much too fast.

That is how Eiji and Ash became close so quickly, after all.

"I do like Shorter," Eiji says, as easy as breathing. "But Ash likes him too, don't you, or you wouldn't have trusted him to bring me your letter and told him how to sneak in here."

"I -" Ash's lips part, but nothing else comes out.

Eiji smiles, gentle and patient as always. "Go see him," he urges. "Talk to him."

Ash is never good at resisting Eiji.

Xxx

Ash finds Shorter at the outskirts of Chinatown, like he has been waiting for him. He looks healthy, good, dressed in his own clothes, a white t-shirt with an orange sweater and ripped jeans. Even his ridiculous purple mohawk is alright, especially after he touched up the roots that began to show in juvie.

"Hey Ash," Shorter says, standing from where he's slouched against his motorbike. He gives Ash a onceover, much like the one Ash gave him earlier, and it is quick, perfunctory, more of a glance for injury than anything else, and yet Ash's skin prickles as though from an actual touch where Shorter's gaze grazed over him. "A freed man now, I see."

"You talk like you didn't already know," Ash says, sauntering to Shorter. "You're the one who told Eiji I was coming back, remember?"

Shorter's hand goes to the back of his neck, a tick of his when sheepish. "He told you?" Shorter says, and Ash gives him a skeptical look that has Shorter barking a short laugh. "Right, of course he did. He did say he would when I asked him not to."

This time, it is Ash who snorts out a laugh. "Of course Eiji did," Ash says, fond. "Though what have you done for you to think it is necessary for you to hide the fact…" Ash trails off meaningfully as he looks up at Shorter.

Shorter immediately throws his hands into the air, palms out in surrender. "Nothing! I didn't do anything, I swear," he says, words tumbling from his mouth one after another. "It's just… I checked up on Eiji a few times, and I wasn't sure how okay you would've been with it, that's all."

"Eiji saw you willingly?" Ash asks, crossing his arms as he hooks his hip against Shorter's motorbike, and Shorter nods rapidly, his mohawk nearly flopping from the force of it. "Then it's fine. He can see whoever he wants, and it's not like he couldn't have sicced Club Cod's guards on you if he felt troubled by you."

Ash and Shorter share a grin at the thought of Eiji siccing anyone on anyone.

Ash looks into the alleyway leading into Chinatown. "Eiji said you're very nice," he says, for reasons he cannot quite explain. When Shorter doesn't reply, Ash looks over, and with their proximity and Shorter's warm skin tone, there is no mistaking the red flush on Shorter's face.

Ash swallows against the sudden lump in his throat.

Shorter jerks his head to the side, looking away from Ash. "L -" Shorter clears his throat. "Let Eiji know he's very nice too, would you? I enjoyed my talks with him."

Ash examines Shorter for a moment, his pleasantly flushed skin and the way he cannot look in Ash's direction or even speak properly about Eiji.

Then, Ash walks away.

"Tell him yourself, Shorter Wong," Ash says, waving a hand behind him as he leaves Shorter spluttering. Ash resists the urge to grin as he continues, feigning disgruntled, "Why should I have to be your messenger?"

"Hey, hey, I was your messenger while you were in juvie, wasn't I?" Shorter shouts, and Ash spins around, hands clasped behind his back. The sun is setting, painting the New York skyline in liberal strokes of orange, red, and purple. Ash hears Shorter's sharp intake of breath, his eyes glued on Ash's form.

Ash finds he just might not mind that, may even prefer it.

He allows his lips to curl into a grin, childish and impish the way he only ever allows Eiji to see. "So?" he asks, like a spoiled princess, and Shorter gapes at him, mouth parted and speechless.

"Come find me with that motorbike sometime, Shorter Wong," Ash says, spinning around and resuming his walk. "Eiji and I will be waiting."

Eiji always talked about pole vaulting like it is a moment of taking flight. Ash wonders if riding on a motorbike might be the same.

Xxx

Ash is sixteen when he finds Griffin in a run-down hospital for veterans from Vietnam. It is never in question whether Ash will take care of him, even if Griffin is barely conscious of his surroundings, nevermind recognizes Ash as his little brother.

"It's like he's trapped in his own mind, experiencing a nightmare that I cannot comprehend," Ash says, coming back to himself after crying against Eiji's chest for ten minutes. He went to Eiji as soon as he got Griffin settled with Dr. Meredith and asked Skipper keep an eye out on them for the time being. "The only thing he keeps saying is 'banana fish'. I don't even know if it's a person, place, or thing."

"Banana… fish?" Eiji says slowly, even though his English has long since improved to nearly proficient. Eiji looks at Ash and Ash looks back, a feeling like hope and dread rising in his throat. "I think I heard Jesse's customer said something like that a few days ago; I was walking back to my room and their door wasn't closed completely, but I thought I misheard because it is so strange."

"Jesse," Ash repeats, racking his brain for any information on them. "The new kid that you said is a favorite right now?"

Eiji nods.

For the customer to have seen Jesse, a current favorite of Club Cod, he has to have been a person of importance to Dino. Dino would have had some sort of business with him and banana fish, because that is the type of place Club Cod is, a place of pleasure and business, and that is the type of person Dino is; he always wants a piece of every profitable pie.

"I can ask Jesse about it," Eiji offers and Ash is saying, "Please," before he even finishes. "Alright," Eiji says, a determined look entering his eyes. "I'll let you know if I find out anything."

"Thank you," Ash says, pressing a quick kiss to Eiji's forehead. He takes Eiji's hands into his own. "But please, be careful. I can always try finding more about banana fish outside if anything." _Though there probably aren't any better lead than this one, _Ash knows. "Don't take any risk, alright?"

Nothing is worth risking Eiji, though, not even to find out what happened to Griffin.

Eiji ducks his head and smiles. "Alright," he says, and then his smile gains a hint of mischievousness to match the twinkle in his eyes. "Did you ask Shorter for help with this yet?" he asks, and then it is Ash's turn to duck his head.

"Yeah," Ash says, feeling his face warm at the recollection of Shorter's immediate offer to help. "I brought Griffin to Dr. Meredith on Shorter's recommendation. Apparently he goes to the backstreet doctor a lot whenever he has injuries he cannot take care of on record."

Eiji's face shutters at those words, his teasing amusement bleeding out. "This banana fish… it sounds dangerous. Be careful, both of you, alright?"

Ash smiles and flicks Eiji's nose, trying to maintain the lighthearted atmosphere. The outside world does not deserve a spot in the meager time Ash and Eiji manage to forge for themselves. "Do I have to tell you this as well now? I'm not you two's messenger. Tell each other yourself."

"I will," Eiji says, crossing his arms like a petulant child with just the slightest of pout on his face. His gaze turns wistful as he glances to the right, where Ash knows someone lucky has snagged a spot by the window. "I wish I could talk to both of you outside, instead of having you guys sneak in separately to see me."

"Soon," Ash promises, kissing Eiji's knuckles one by one. "Soon."

Eiji is eighteen now, soon turning nineteen. He looks two years younger thanks to his genes, but even so, Club Cod has a reputation for offering young adolescents. Ash has to finish up the preparation he and Eiji have been working on via gathering intelligence on Dino's underground business.

Then, they'll destroy Dino in one shot and subsequently free them all.

And banana fish might just be the ammunition to spearhead that.

Xxx

Banana Fish is so much worse than they can imagine.

Ash, Eiji, and Shorter are going to blow it up in Dino's face.

Xxx

The night before multiple major news outlets of New York are set to publish all the illegal intelligence Ash, Eiji, and Shorter have gathered on Dino, Ash and Shorter and their gangs break into Club Cod.

"Come," Ash says, taking one of the children's hands to help them into the truck that he disguised as a 'delivery' truck, only this time, children would be leaving Club Cod instead of entering. With any luck, none of the guards that Alex and Sing have taken lead to knock out with their respective gang members would wake until the next day, and by then, they should all be long gone.

It is a risk, performing a huge operation like this when they are already so close to victory, but they have no choice. Once the news publish tomorrow morning, Dino will try to run and the first thing he'd order is to clean the house. Ash cannot risk hoping help can get to Club Cod before Dino can, especially since it would be the first place to suspect for the leak, since VIPs' tongues tend to loosen around young children when they see them only as pretty property.

Besides, with this operation, hopefully Dino would be too occupied trying to chase them down to pay any heed to the bustle of the major news outlets until it is too late. And once everything is out in the light, it'll be over for Dino and they'll be free.

Ash has lots of reasons for the calculated risk he is taking tonight, but all of them are wiped clean from his mind when he hears a familiar call of "Ash!"

Through sheer force of will, Ash waits until he has helped the child holding onto his hand up to the truck and gestured Kong to take over before turning. The sight of Eiji grinning, running, outside and free, knocks the breath out of Ash. Ash runs towards him, noting no other children follow behind Eiji, because of course Eiji would insist on seeing everyone else out first.

Ash's heart springs to his throat when Eiji slips and nearly falls, but then Shorter is there behind him, catching Eiji by the waist before he hits the ground. As Eiji grins sheepishly at Shorter in thanks and Shorter smiles shyly back, Ash leaps through the remaining distance separating them, right into the space between Eiji's and Shorter's bodies, and they close their arms around him.

"We're free," Eiji says, giggly as he cups a hand to Ash's face, and Ash nods.

"You're free," Shorter confirms, holding both of them in his arms. "You'll never have to go back."

Xxx

After the news has come out about Dino's illegal business, coupled with the information they released on Banana Fish, Dino is arrested without bail. To ensure that Dino would not wiggle free, Ash Lynx - as the heir Papa Dino is grooming to take over his criminal empire - agrees to testify against him and anyone in Dino's criminal network that he has knowledge about, on the condition that he will receive a reduced sentence.

Dino's businesses, legal and illegal, fall into shambles as his competitors take advantage of the situation like sharks sensing blood in the water, aided by the insider business intel that someone has conveniently leaked online. With all the chaos, and money and stocks changing hands, it wouldn't be until months later that someone noticed a couple of million dollars from Ash Lynx's personal account were unaccounted for.

Without use of most of his money, power, and connections, it isn't long before Dino has been sentenced to life in prison, along with several of his criminal colleagues that are implicated by the investigation. Ash Lynx, although he had brokered a deal with the state, has also been sentenced to seventy years in prison for the deeds they managed to pin on him.

That should have been the end of it, but who would have thought that a week after Ash Lynx has been sentenced, as he is transported from witness security to prison, a member of Dino's Family - bitter by the fall of his mafia boss and organization - would impersonate a prison guard, hijack the van Ash Lynx was in, and subsequently blow it up with both of them inside. Nothing of the van remained, not even of the bodies of Ash Lynx and the gang member.

And just like that, Papa Dino and Ash Lynx fade into history, and elsewhere, Aslan Jade Callenreese, Shorter Wong, and Eiji Okumura get on a plane and head to Japan.


End file.
